Expanded-metal machine.



v PATENT'ED AUG. l, 1905.

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APPLIOATION HLnn JAN. s. 1905.

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110.796,367.- PATENTED AUG. 1, 1905.

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EXEANDED METAL MAGE-INE APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1906.

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O N O I\ O N UNITED STATES PATENT' onirica.

LAWRENCE C. STEELE, OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSICrNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO OSCAR BRADFORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AND IVILLIAM L.CALDWELL, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

EXPANDED-NIETAL MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

l atented Aug. 1, 1905.

Application filed January 3, 1905. Serial No. 239,286.

Beit known that I, LAWRENCE C. STEELE. a citizen of the United States,residing in I/Vheeling, in the county of Ohio and State of WestVirginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Expanded-MetalMachines, of which the following is a specification.

Machines for manufacturing expanded metal from sheet metal andconsisting' of cutting-rolls for lirst completely slitting the sheetsand expanding mechanism receiving the sheets from the cutting-rolls andserving to open the slits, and thereby to complete the article, are nowin use. The best-known construction of-cutting-rolls employed in thesemachines is that shown in the patent to Lewis E. Curtis, No. 671,915, ofApril 9, 1901. The work done by these cutting-rolls is very severe, andas a consequence the knives or cutting devices employed in them requireto be sharpened quite frequently, and consequently the amount of workwhich the rolls are capable of doing without being sharpened is limited.There is no such limit, however, in the case of the expanding mechanism,and therefore the combined machine as organized at present does notutilize the full capacity of the expanding mechanism, because the rollsmust be changed or stopped for sharpening, and during these operationsthe expander is necessarily idle.

My object in this invention is to increase the capacity of the cuttingmechanism, so as to obtain the benefit of the full capacity of theexpander and at the same time to reduce the amount of work required fromthe knives, so that they will remain sharp for longer periods of time,notwithstanding the increase in the output of the machine. I accomplishthis object or result by duplicating the cutting-rolls, so that whilethe sheets may be fed as rapidly as they can be expanded, yet each setof rolls will be called upon to slit only one-half the sheets, the twosets of rolls acting on alternate sheets and both delivering the slittedsheets to the same expander.

The nature of my invention is fully set forth below and also illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation ofmy improved machine, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section.

In suitable standards 5 are mounted two pairs of cutting-rolls 6 6 and 77, driven b v trains of gears (plainly shown at Fig. 1)and receiving'their power from the shaft 8. Feedtables 9 and 10 are provided, fromwhich the sheets are fed into the rolls. In order to properly time thesheets from these tables so that they may not interfere with one anotherwhen they reach the expander, I provide the tables withautomatically-operating latches or intercepting devices 11 and 12,connected together by a rod 13. These latches are pivotal-ly supportedin standards 14 at each side of the table and are provided withcrank-arms 15, by which they are connected to said rod 13. As shown, oneof these latches is down in position to intercept any sheet which maybe'fed on the lower table, while the upper one is raised, so as topermit the sheet 16 (shown at Fig. 2) to enter the rolls. As soon assheet 16 has passed the upper latch the lower one may be raised by thesheet entering from the lower table, and at the same time the upperlatch will be lowered, so as to prevent any further feeding upon theupper table until the lower table is clear. These latches thus insurethe feeding of the sheets on the two tables alternately, so that theycannot come together in the expander.

17 represents the strippers for stripping the metal from the knives, and18 18 are the guides between which the slitted sheets from the upperrolls are conducted to the expander, and 19 19 are similar guides forconducting the sheets from the lower rolls to the expander. expander islocated in a horizontal plane between the pairs of cutting-rolls, sothat the guides by which the slitted sheets are conducted to theexpander are inclined in different directions. This is a desirablearrangement, but not essential.

The expanding mechanism which I show is known as the Lewis E. Curtismechanism and is like that shownin his application, Serial No. 109,421,liled May 29, 1902, and it consists of two supports, one for eachlongitudinal half of the sheet, said supports diverging from each otherin both horizontal and vertical directions and being provided withfeeding devices taking hold of the unexpanded portions of the sheet onsaid supports. The upper inclined one of these supports is clearly shownat 20 in Fig. 2, and the frame in which it and As shown, the enteringpoint of the` its feed-rolls 21 are mounted is shown at 23, and theframe of the downwardlyinelined support is shown at 24 and vitsfeed-rolls at 25. Both these supports are preferably adjustable at theirouter ends, as is plainly indicated in the drawings in Fig. 1. The rollsof the downwardly-inclined support are driven from the pinion 26 by thetrain of g'earing, (plainly indicated at Fig. 1,) and the rolls of theupwardly-inclined support are driven in a similar manner by gearing' atthe farther side of the machine. The sheets are received from theconducting-guides18 and 19 by a pair of driven feed-rolls 27 and aredelivered by said feedrolls to the expanding mechanism. Power may becarried from thecutting'lroll gearing to these feed-rolls by belt 28.

While my improvements have been devised with special reference to usewith the Curtis cutting-rolls and the Curtis expander, it will beunderstood that l do not wish to be limited in my claims to either.

By the use of my invention I am enabled to greatly reduce the cuttingspeed of the rolls, and thereby reduce the excessive wear and tear dueto high speed and at the same time increase the capacity of the machine.The rolls acting' only on alternate sheets are given intervals of restand do not become heated as in cases where they operate continuously.

Iclaim 1. The combination with an expanding mechanism, of two pairs ofslitting-rolls acting' on alternate sheetsl and delivering themalternately to the expanding mechanism.

2. The combination with an expanding mechanism, of two pairs ofslitting-rolls actalternately to the expanding' mechanism, and

means for regulating' thefeed of the sheets to the rolls.

5. rlhe combination with an expanding mechanism, of two pairs ofslitting-rolls actf ing on alternate sheets and delivering' themalternately to the expanding mechanism and automatic Vmeans forregulating the feed of the sheets to the rolls.

6. The combination with an expanding -mechanism, of two pairs ofslitting-rolls acting' on alternate sheets and delivering themalternately tothe expanding mechanism, and means whereby the sheet beingslitted in one pair of rolls may during the operation upon it preventthe feeding of another sheet into i the other pair of rolls. December29, 1904.

. LAWRENGE C. STEELE. l/Vitnesses:

W. H. ZIMMERMAN, Jr., A. H. WIEDEBUSCH.

